ANO NA ANG LATEST SA US PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN?

Is the bottom falling out for Barack Obama? It’s too early to say that, but there are some disturbing signs. On the positive side, superdelegates still are breaking his way. Rep. Baron Hill, whose southern Indiana district almost certainly will vote for Hillary Clinton, came out for Obama. So did fellow Hoosier Joe Andrew, who previously endorsed Clinton and who was named Democratic national chairman by Bill Clinton in the 1990s. (James Carville may have another name for him.) Obama is still well ahead among delegates chosen in primaries and caucuses, and he is not very far behind in superdelegates, either.

But what about the voters? Here there are some ominous signs. The latest Fox News poll, conducted after the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s appearance at the National Press Club, showed Obama’s favorable/unfavorables at 63 to 27 percent among Democrats, compared to Hillary Clinton’s 73 to 22 percent. Suddenly she’s not the only one with high negatives. And 36 percent of Democrats say they would be disinclined to vote for Obama because of his longtime relationship with his former pastor. There’s more bad news in The Pew Research Center poll of Democrats. Obama’s national lead among Democrats is down from 49 to 39 percent to a statistically insignificant 47 to 45 percent.

These results are not outliers. The Rasmussen tracking poll showed Obama leading Clinton 49 to 41 percent before Wright spoke to the National Press Club. Afterward the numbers were 46 to 44 percent in favor of Clinton. The Gallup Poll had Obama leading Clinton 50 to 41 percent the night before the Pennsylvania primary. The results reported May 1 were Clinton 49 percent, Obama 45 percent.

Obama’s standing as a general election candidate also seems to have taken a hit. Gallup showed him tied with John McCain 45 to 45 percent before the Wright appearance and trailing 47 to 43 percent afterward; at the same time, it shows Hillary Clinton tied with McCain 46 to 46 percent. Similarly, Rasmussen has McCain now ahead of Obama 46 to 43 percent and McCain tied with Clinton 44 to 44 percent.

All the numbers in this deluge of numbers tell the same story. Not just liberal but also many conservative commentators said that Obama’s speech on race March 18, in response to ABC News’ broadcasting of excerpts from Wright’s sermons, had solved any problems he had with voters, or at least with Democratic voters. And it was hard to argue with that conclusion, at least as to Democrats. Obama’s loss in Pennsylvania April 22, in line with expectations, didn’t necessarily contradict that. The response to Obama’s repudiation April 29, in response to Wright’s remarks April 28, is clearly different.

One reason is that Obama now has taken two diametrically opposed stands on the minister whose church he attended for 20 years, who married him and his wife and baptized their children, whose sermon inspired the title of his 2006 book, “The Audacity of Hope.” On March 18, his response was: No, I cannot renounce my pastor. On April 29, his response was: Yes, I can.

Another and more important reason is that Obama’s long association with a minister who says that the federal government manufactured the AIDS virus to kill black people, who likens American soldiers to terrorists, who celebrates Louis Farrakhan as a great man — that long association tends to undermine the central theme of Obama’s candidacy. Obama has presented himself since his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech as a leader who can unite America across political and racial divides. He presented himself to American voters, most of whom, I believe, think it would be a very good thing if we elected a black president. (I personally feel that way.) “In the blue states,” Obama told the convention in Boston and the nation watching on TV, “we worship an awesome God.” Now it turns out that the God worshipped in the Rev. Wright’s church was “awesome” in ways we didn’t expect.

The appeals of Obama and Hillary Clinton will be tested in the May 6 primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, the nation’s 10th- and 15th-most populous states. The Real Clear Politics average of recent polling shows Obama’s share of the two-candidate vote in North Carolina at 54 percent, down from 59 percent in April, and Clinton with 53 percent of the two-candidate vote in Indiana, where she trailed not long ago. A few pundits still are saying that Obama’s choice of pastor is a distraction, an irrelevancy. But some voters, perhaps in the belief that a president’s judgment and values have important consequences, don’t agree.

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Hillary Clinton claims she deserves to be president because she has 35 years of experience. There is much to be said for that argument. To millions of Americans, she has been a stalwart ally, fighting for those who were denied power, resources or political recognition. Anissues in particular raise important questions about the argument. The first was Whitewater — whether the Clintons did anything wrong during a real estate deal they entered into in Arkansas with speculator James McDougall.

Whitewater in many ways was old hat. An FBI report in Arkansas in 1992 concluded that there was no basis for thinking the Clintons had acted inappropriately. But like a bad itch, the story would not go away. Right-wing activists mercilessly scratched at it, and eventually, Whitewater became a focus for repeated stories in mainstream papers. With so much smoke, people speculated, there must be fire.

The issue threatens the multiracial coalition that is crucial to Obama’s hopes of becoming the first black president, and it has highlighted a gulf between white and black Americans on matters of church and religion.

Many white voters were shocked to hear a minister curse America and promote conspiracy theories from the pulpit, some accepted Obama’s argument that he should not be blamed for his former pastor’s words. Many black voters, meanwhile, were far more familiar with Wright’s style of preaching — whether or not they agree with it — and believe the issue will not cripple Obama’s campaign.

Barack won Guam caucuses by just 7 votes over Hillary. She’s closing the gap in NC.

A young NY lawyer friend of mine who has been so vocal on his support for Barack has now jumped over to Hillary’s fence after seeing/hearing Wright’s theories. He said that there are just too many unknowns about BO.

I know a lot of people have a problem with what Wright said about the US reaping what it sowed on 9/11. Anyone that thinks that US has never done anything wrong needs to stop and remove their head from their @$$ and look at a history book. At the same time, the United States has done more to help people than any other country. Personally, I think that even if we had never involved ourselves in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict or had any military presence in the Middle East, the people that attacked us still would have done so, because for them it is about having the entire globe submit to their bastardized version of Islam. Much like Hitler wanted to conquer the world, these people have a similar goal in mind.

What I found offensive about Jeremiah Wright is his hypocrisy. He will stand there and condemn the white man and the rich man, yet he’s more than happy to move into his million dollar plus home in Tinley Park. Just like John Edwards and Bruce Springsteen will complain about the economic injustice in this country and then retire to their oversized mansions. In the meantime, Wright is single-handedly derailing the campaign of the first black man that stands a chance at getting into the oval office, just so he can posture and stroke his ego with the unlimited media exposure. He’s pathetic.

I would like to think, barring some unforeseen event, Barack Obama will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. That being the case — and also as long as the nomination fight continues — race will be an issue, stated or not, in the presidential campaign. For that reason, it’s incumbent on Clinton, Obama and, of course, John McCain to not only watch their language but — maybe more important — to watch their reaction to the language of others.

Senator Obama often repeats that he is the candidate for change but what has he done to work for change? Why are most of his political endorsements coming from Washington insiders? This is something to be considered. In addition, he appears to mimic the candidacy of Senator Clinton in spirit but not with substance. Clearly he has not thought the issues through and perhaps given more time and experience, he would emerge as a fine statesperson. But all that has changed since the recent revelations of his twenty-year relationship with Pastor Jeremiah Wright. It is very troubling to realize the influence Wright has had on Obama when it comes to the pastor’s anti-American racist beliefs.

Any reasonable person would have discontinued this relationship if they did not concur with these views. Senator Obama will only add to the racial divide in this country. Furthermore, his latest comments about the “bitter small-town Pennsylvanians” are in fact “elitist,” “demeaning” and “out of touch”. These are things the Democratic Party I knew never stood for. Consequently, at this most crucial moment in history, our country cannot afford to gamble again with someone who is simply not prepared to take on the enormous responsibilities of Commander-In-Chief.

Senator Clinton has spent her whole life working for change. Change that has improved the quality of life for all Americans by focusing on fairness. She truly cares about our country. Given the current state of our economy, she may very well represent the last chance for this country to avoid social catastrophe. Her lengthy public-service experience has more than prepared her for the presidency. It is the very reason why the greedy powers-that-be are so opposed to her candidacy. It is why some of her primary opponent’s donors are part of this opposition. Frankly, those supporting the status quo have never felt so threatened. For this election is a clear choice between those who have never had it so good and those of us who know we can do better. Senator Clinton knows we can do better and her track record reflects that.

Hubby was a Barackian until the day when Wright opened his mouth. I’m with Hillary through and through. Yesterday he said I was right all along about BO’s being not yet ready and his 20+years association with his pastor is something that he can’t just shake away.

After cutting ties with his controversial former pastor, Sen. Barack Obama received a word of sympathy from an unusual place: a Republican.

Former Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee says that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright wants to derail Obama’s bid for the White House for a simple tactical reason: Wright does not want Obama to prove that we’ve made that much racial progress.

“His campaign is not being derailed by his race,” Huckabee told reporters following a fundraiser in Montana. “It’s being derailed by a person who doesn’t want him to prove that we have made great advances in this country,”

Huckabee, himself a Baptist minister, added that “Jeremiah Wright needs for Obama to lose so he can justify his anger, his hostile bitterness against the United States of America.”

It’s hard to imagine that Wright would turn on the rising political star who he led to Jesus Christ two decades ago at Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s South Side, when Obama was a community organizer.

Obama’s repudiation of Wright came after Wright blew an opportunity at the National Press Club news conference to smooth the nationwide feathers he has ruffled.

Allow me to post this one which I read in the internet. The writer was obviously irritated by the on-going debates between the followers of Obama & Clinton:

Obama is not running because of his color, but as a man of high expectation’s for our country. I applaud him for his integrity, and the strength to deal with the ignorance of some people. I however do not feel he is experienced enough to run the country, but maybe i am wrong. Choose the best delegate, not the color. Our country need’s to be as one.Look around you and be thankful for the right.s of being a United State citizen and stop bashing each other. YOU COULD ALWAY’S LIVE IN IRAQ !!!

To describe Jeremiah Wright as charismatic is to understate his extraordinary magnetism, which drew Barack Obama to Christianity twenty years ago. Sure, Wright is a divisive figure, but he’s a uniter as well – embracing embracing gays and lesbians as well as militant Black Muslims, and building a kind of rainbow coalition of the excluded, which inspired Obama (and countless others) to go forth and perform good works. In turning on his pastor, Obama claims that Wright has changed. Could it be that Obama has changed?

The problem isn’t just that Rev. Wright will lash back against Obama. The problem is that Rev. Wright probably KNOWS TOO MUCH. I’m not talking about illegal activity…but there HAS to be something embarassing that Rev. Wright knows about Obama to use against him.

My guess is that the HRC people are quietly contacting Rev. Wright and mining him for dirt on Obama. This would be the time to do it – right when Wright is most angry, and Obama is most vulnerable.

This is why Obama has refrained from attacking Wright. Not because of friendship – but because he always feared that Wright would lash back, and the media would be all to willing to hand over the microphone to this clown.

The former first lady trails Obama in nominating contests and pledged delegates, so her last hope is to persuade Democratic party bosses known as superdelegates, that Obama is too risky to run against McCain in November.

“When the process finishes in early June, people can look at all the various factors and decide who will be the strongest candidate,” Clinton, 60, said at the ABC town-hall meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.

“I feel like I am going to be able to stand up to Senator McCain,” said Clinton, who has promised a “game-changer” on Tuesday, after which only six contests will be left in the Democrats’ exhausting nominating marathon.

Conventional wisdom has it that Clinton has to at least win Indiana to stop a stampede of superdelegates towards Obama, and to stay in the race.

If she could somehow pull off a suprise win in North Carolina, she could change the whole dynamic.

Barack Obama rebuked Hillary Clinton for “saber-rattling” on Iran, but her camp claimed he was “running scared,” two days before their next fateful date with Democratic voters.

The White House rivals injected more bile into their attacks before primaires in Indiana and North Carolina, where Obama hopes to land a knockout, and Clinton hopes to ignite her long-odds comeback bid.

Both spent the day hop-scotching through rust-belt Indiana, sparring with one another, and beseeching supporters to ensure a high turnout.